DEI Blog – Being First-Generation: A Challenge & a Gift

By Katie Gaither – Director of Student Engagement – Office of Student Affairs

Nearly 25% of CCS students are first-generation college students (otherwise known as “first-gens”)!

If your parents or guardians did not complete a four-year college degree, you are considered first-generation. On November 8th, we celebrate National First Generation College Celebration day, an annual national acknowledgement of those who are the first in their families to attend college and/or complete a four-year degree. Being first-gen comes with its own unique experiences, challenges, and strengths. Each first-gen student has a story worth understanding, sharing, and celebrating. Today I share mine with you.

I proudly come from a multigenerational working-class family that fought to stay afloat during the Great Recession. I watched my mom, dad, and stepmom work tirelessly to care for me and my siblings. As a kid, my dad detailed family friends’ cars and picked up weekend shifts at the local pizza place to supplement his full-time income. When my dad lost his long-time warehouse job in 2008, he did everything he could to pick up work, whether it be with a temp agency or working as a handyman for a local realty company. My dad had valuable skills and experience, and an unwavering work ethic, but without a college degree it was practically impossible at that time to get a full-time, good-paying job. Throughout the struggle, he stressed to me how important it was not only to have a strong work ethic, but to have a quality education to pair with it.

For my family, there was no question if I was going to college; the conversation was when I was going to college and what I needed to do to get into a “good school.” As the oldest sibling, there was tremendous pressure to stay focused on academics and set a good example for my younger siblings by getting “good grades,” getting into a “good school” to then get a “good job.” I went on a single campus visit because my parents could not get the time off work to take me to other schools. I spent the better part of a year figuring out how to apply to colleges, and we toiled over how to accurately complete the FAFSA application to gain access to financial aid required to attend school in the first place. Before I looked at dorm options, I was researching work-study jobs on campus. I didn’t know back then that this pressure and these experiences were not just from being the oldest sibling, but also the result of being the first person in my family bound for a four-year college.

With all of this in mind, being at college was a big deal to me. I was determined to accomplish what my parents didn’t have the opportunity to. As a transfer student, I lost multiple credits in the transfer process and therefore took 18 credit hours most semesters. My family was unable to help me financially, so I worked four jobs while going to school full-time in order to pay bills and buy groceries. To get some community-building experience, I co-ran a student organization on campus as well. In the midst of all this busy-ness, I still felt incredibly isolated. It seemed like no one around me understood my struggle, nor could they relate to the life experiences that made up my worldview. I was often surrounded by classmates whose parents attended our university, who already had job and internship connections lined up, or who were able to retake classes as a result of partying multiple nights a week using their parents’ credit card. I just could not relate! I was under a different pressure, with different goals.

Halfway through my senior year of college, I learned that a friend was planning to do research about first-generation college students. I had no idea what that meant. When she told me that first-generation college students are the first people in their family to go to college, and that there were thousands of them at our university, I was stunned. All this time and I didn’t know that there were other people experiencing similar pressures and priorities. There were other students on campus who felt an obligation to their families while also seeking a better life for themselves, who had to balance working multiple jobs with the desire to soak up as much as we possibly can with this opportunity we’ve been given. In learning that I was first-gen, and that there were others like me, I also learned that the school had programs and support systems in place for first-generation students. I was so excited, yet so sad I didn’t take advantage of that support system sooner!

I share this for National First Generation Day because maybe you, too, have had a similar experience. Being the first in your family to attend college is both a challenge and a gift. As first-gens, we’ve not only experienced varying struggles to get where we are but we also bring with us a multitude of strengths that provide a different perspective to our education, our work, our art. This Celebration Day is to celebrate just that: what it’s taken to get here, and all that these experiences will do to serve you as you journey through higher education and your life.

My reminder & my advice to you, from one first-gen to another: you are not alone, and there are other people just like you on campus who care about your journey & seek to support you through it.

Resources:

On-Campus / CCS:

• Check out the First Gen Collective, a student-run CCS student organization specifically for the first-gen community on campus. For Fall 2023, they meet Wednesdays at 4:00pm in A010 in the Yamasaki basement.

   

• Come find me in the Office of Student Affairs in the Yamasaki building! I would love nothing more than to support you throughout your journey as a first-generation student at CCS.

• Center for Tutoring and Writing – The Center for Tutoring and Writing is an incredible resource that provides CCS students with individualized academic support, academic coaching, writing support, and peer tutoring for traditional & digital creative skills, software assistance and more!  Schedule an appointment with a peer tutor today!

• Financial Aid – The Office of Financial Aid assists students with financial aid options. Among other things like financial aid award breakdowns, the Office of Financial Aid provides students with insights on all financial aid options, including grants/scholarships, work study programs, and outside opportunities, loan default prevention as well as offering other assistance as needed.
  • The Financial Aid office is located on the main floor of the Yamasaki Building
  • Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30AM – 4:30PM
  • Visit the Financial Aid page for contact information HERE.

Virtual:

• Empowering First Generation College Students Facebook Group
  • This Facebook group serves as a virtual community of first-generation students and professionals seeking to support one another in school, work, and life. We are more than 7,400 members strong and provide insight, guidance, and support for a myriad of topics. I am also an Administrator of this Facebook Group! We welcome any first-generation students, as well as faculty & staff who are committed to supporting the first-gen community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/empoweringfirstgens/

• Empowering First Generation College Students LinkedIn page
  • An offshoot of the Facebook page, the LinkedIn group aims to provide career support and guidance, as well as connections to opportunities, to first-generation college students & professionals. You can join the LinkedIn group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12796372/